Tipped truck closes Desert Rd

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The State Highway 1 Desert Rd will be closed for four hours this afternoon while a truck is hauled back up the bank it went over early this morning.

The truck with three people on board went over a bank on the northern end of the Desert Road at 3.40am today, police said.

The three people on board were not seriously injured.

NZTA warned the highway would be closed from 1pm to 5pm today while the truck was recovered.

A detour was in place via Ohakune and National Park, which would add 40 minutes to journeys. The accident was the second incident in the same area on State Highway 1 overnight.

Fire Service communications centre senior communicator Michael Upton said six crew members, including a hazardous materials unit, were called to a truck that was carrying leaking containers of acid near Taupo at 11.30pm yesterday.

Upton said about 20 litres of the chemical spilled and was dripping from five litre containers on the truck.

The highway remained closed till 4am while crews contained the spill and cleared the scene.